Watching
by becks89
Summary: Not really angsty, but some elements in there. The night before a battle with Voldemort, Hermione receives some comfort from Sirius. Kind of fluffy...one-shot unless asked otherwise. Please Read and Review! Sequel out soon: 'Recovery of Souls'


Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K Rowling...goddess.

Notes: This is just a real random thing. I sat down at my computer today, and instead of writing my other stories, I wrote the first sentence. And then everything just flowed. I really love this pairing, but I hardly see any stories with them, so I decided to write this. It's just a one-shot, but if anyone would like a sequel, or something to this, please ask...but if not, this is it.

Timeline: Not much of a timeline, it's set after Hogwarts, maybe two years after? There are some elements of Ootp in this, but obviously, Sirius did not die.

Pairing: Sirius/Hermione...turn away if you don't like it!

Anyway, please review!

He was staring at her again.  
  
She could feel his eyes on her, burning a hole through the side of her skull. Her fingers twitched involuntarily, but she tried to remain calm, she tried to act like she had not noticed his staring. It was hard though. She was never good at pretending, and this time was no different. Her hands fingered the folds of her robes, and she focused her mind on what Harry was saying.  
  
He was still watching her.  
  
Her eyes shifted to the right and she could see him, his dark eyes fixed on her, under a heavy curtain of black hair. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she stopped fingering her robes.  
  
She glanced back at Harry, who was still briefing them. His green eyes travelled across each and every one of them, as they stood, assembled in the room. He gave her a flicker of a smile as he talked, and Hermione could not help but smile back.  
  
To the left of her stood Ron, tall and gangly, overshadowing her by five inches. He looked down at her and smiled weakly, wrapping a warm, safe arm around her waist. She felt protected now, knowing that Ron was there. He knew that she hated this. She hated the briefing, and the preparation before the battle. Nervousness mounted in her stomach, and she placed a hand on Ron's large one around her waist.  
  
He was still watching.  
  
Eyes narrowed, hidden by his hair, a scowl forming on his lips.  
  
He always watched her.  
  
Hermione felt tension mounting up inside of her as Harry stepped to the side and Dumbledore took his place, his gaze resting calmly on her, knowing how much she hated this. He opened his mouth to speak, cool, calming words tumbling out of those old lips, and it left Hermione feeling better. Calmer. For Dumbledore always knew what to say, in times like these.  
  
Harry stepped forward once more, and addressed them all.  
  
"Be careful. We outnumber them, two to one, but that's no reason to get cocky. We get in there, hard and fast. Deliver a hard blow to Voldemort, and then we get out. I want no casualties. You are all too valuable to lose." Harry's gaze rested on Hermione for a moment, before leaving her face and stretching out to the rest of them. "Tomorrow morning, day break." He said in a final tone. He took a deep breath, and his face split into a wry grin. "Who wants Butterbeer? My treat?" He said joyfully, and Hermione smiled. It was just like Harry, to end on such a sombre note, and then talked about trivial things, like drinks. The rest of the room erupted into cheers, and a crowd gathered at the door.   
  
"I do mate, only if you're buying." Ron said, staying where he was.  
  
"Didn't I say I was?" Harry asked, grinning. His grin faded however, as his gaze drifted toward Hermione. "Are you..."  
  
Hermione nodded.  
  
"Don't lie."  
  
The corners of Hermione's mouth lifted gently, and she shook her head, negatively. "No, I'm not."  
  
"Do you wanna talk about it?" Ron concernedly asked, looking down at her with brotherly affection. Hermione bit her lip hesitantly, but shook her head a moment later.  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
"Do you want to come to the Leaky Cauldron with us?" Harry asked, gesturing to the others in the room. Seamus shouted for Harry to hurry, but Harry dismissed him with a wave and turned his attention back to his friend.  
  
"No...I think I'm going to turn in. Busy day tomorrow." Hermione joked, but they did not laugh.  
  
"Shall I stay with you?" Ron asked, brushing a curl from her eyes affectionately. Hermione smiled thankfully at Ron, but shook her head no.  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
"But the dreams..." Harry said.  
  
"I'll be fine."  
  
Harry and Ron nodded reluctantly, and Ron looked back to the crowd that was gathering near the door.  
  
"See you tomorrow then." Ron said nervously, ducking down and kissing her cheek.  
  
"Tomorrow."  
  
Harry mirrored Ron's action and turned to go, but stopped.  
  
"You don't have to come tomorrow."  
  
"I want to." Hermione said firmly. "Nothing you can say will change my decision. I'm gonna fry the balls of the man who did that to me." She said fiercely, a danger flickering beneath her eye, but it was gone in a second.  
  
Harry chuckled. "There's the Hermione I know and love."  
  
"You better hurry; Fred and George are getting impatient." Hermione said, glancing to the door, where lots of people, old and young, male and female, stood.  
  
"So is Fleur." Ron said, grinning. "She gives Bill hell."  
  
"But he loves it." Harry said.  
  
"He would."  
  
Hermione smiled. "See you tomorrow."  
  
The two men nodded, and with a squeeze of a hand on Harry's part, they joined the bustling crowd.  
  
"You're not going with them?" A cold voice drawled, and Hermione shook her head, turning towards the speaker.  
  
"I have to..."  
  
"Get ready?" Malfoy finished, eying her in concern. "I'm sorry what he did to you." He said quietly, his grey eyes betraying sorrow and regret. Hermione took his hand in hers and shook her head.  
  
"It's not your fault." She said firmly.  
  
"Still..." Malfoy protested, his regretful gaze rested on her face. "If I had known, I would have never-"  
  
"I know. But it's a good thing you did join them, otherwise you couldn't have saved me." Hermione said, her hand sliding up his arm, resting just below the elbow. He flinched, but it wasn't from pain, it was from regret, self hate. He looked down at where Hermione's hand lay, on top of the Dark Mark.  
  
"You're going to kill him, aren't you? You're going to kill my father." Malfoy said, and Hermione nodded, her eyes searching his face for some kind of resentment towards her. There was none, instead, relief. "Good night." He said, sending her a fond look, before removing her hand from his arm and leaving the room.  
  
And then they were alone.  
  
He stood against the wall, arms folded, in an almost casual posture. He stared at her through almost guarded eyes, lines written across his forehead, not from age, but from worry.  
  
"Aren't you going to go with Harry?" Hermione asked quietly, and he shook his head.  
  
"Even though I am cleared, and have been for two years, people are always shocked when I turn up at public places." He explained.  
  
"Stupid." Hermione muttered under her breath, and Sirius let out a short laugh.  
  
"Tell me about it. But people can't seem to get used to me." Hermione gazed at him. "I don't need your pity." He spat, contemptuously.  
  
"I'm not giving you any." She spat back, some of her old fire rising under her. He noticed, and the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile.  
  
"What are you going to do now?" Sirius asked curiously.  
  
Hermione shrugged. "Go home, go to sleep."  
  
"Tomorrow will come faster if you sleep." Sirius pointed out, and Hermione flinched, as if she had been hit. The reality of what was going to happen tomorrow hit her again in full force, and she suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy. She swayed on the spot and slowly brought her hand up to her head, her eyes closing tiredly. Sirius abandoned his wall and leapt towards her, placing his hands on her arms, keeping her upright. Hermione opened her eyes slowly, her hand grabbed his robes and she fought to keep upright. He silently manoeuvred her to a chair and sat her down in it, kneeling in front of her. His hands still held her arms.  
  
"Thank you." Hermione said weakly, staring at him through curls of brown hair that had been freed from her bun.  
  
"What did he do to you?" Sirius asked, his voice laced with horror.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
"You haven't been the same since...him." Sirius growled.  
  
Hermione looked down at her lap. Her eyes searched the delicate folds of her robes as she avoided Sirius' gaze.  
  
"Why can't you be like you were?" Sirius whispered, those words half meant for him, half meant for the both of them.  
  
"I'm trying." She said, looking up at him, her eyes shining with tears.  
  
Sirius stared at her at a loss for words. His dark eyes, normally shielded from emotion, were betraying his thoughts of sorrow, shock and...love.  
  
"Hermione..." He whispered, in a voice she had never heard him use before. Dry, cracked...as if he was had been deprived of water for too long...as if he wanted it...as if he wanted her. "I..."  
  
"I don't need your pity." Hermione said weakly.  
  
Sirius nodded, and stood up abruptly, his hands leaving her arms. Hermione immediately felt cold.  
  
"You should go home. Go to sleep. The faster tomorrow comes, the faster it goes." Sirius said shortly.  
  
Hermione nodded, feeling like a child. He always had that ability with her, to make her feel inferior, childish. It felt horrible, to be treated like that...something delicate, childish...it felt horrible to be treated like that by him. Especially by him.  
  
"Good night." He said shortly.  
  
"Night." She whispered back, blinking back the tears that threatened to fall.  
  
He turned to go and walked straight to the door, opening it forcefully and then striding out. Hermione could hear his pounding footsteps disappear down the hall, and then...silence.  
  
Hermione wiped her eyes free of her tears with a small tissue from her robe pocket, and then tossed it in the rubbish bin. She missed the bin. She sighed, frustrated, but she could not be bothered to pick it up and put it in the bin. She tucked several curls of thick brown hair behind her ear and placed her elbows on her knees. She should go home, she knew that. It was not a long walk, she could even apparate if she wanted, but she had no strength left. She had half a mind to just stay here, in the large but cosy room.  
  
Hermione glanced back at the door where Sirius had left abruptly. She wished he had stayed. She always felt safe near him. It was because she knew that he would not let anything happen to her. Mainly because Harry would kill him if something did, because Hermione had always sensed something, underneath the cold façade he normally greeted her with. But her modesty did not let her press the subject further in her mind. Besides Harry, Ron and Draco, she knew nothing could harm her in his care.  
  
She couldn't do this. Tomorrow Aurors, fighters for the Order, and good guys in general were going to one of Voldemort's hideouts. Snape had informed them that Voldemort was currently residing there, with his many Death Eaters, and they were going to storm his hideout.  
  
Butterflies the size of eagles fluttered in her stomach.  
  
It would be the first time she would meet him, after what had happened, a little of a year ago.  
  
She had been different before, fun, more carefree, determined...but those two weeks she spent in the Dark Lord's care, in Lucius' Malfoy's care, had damaged her beyond repair. She jumped at small sounds, could not sleep at night because of nightmares plaguing her mind, and she would only let five people touch her; Harry, Ron, Draco, Ginny and Sirius. Anyone else, she couldn't trust. Those were the people who had taken care of her after the attack, who had helped her come out of the tiny shell she had enclosed herself in.  
  
She wanted one of them to be here now. She couldn't do this. Even though rage filled her completely whenever she thought of Lucius Malfoy and what he did to her, she was scared of what was going to happen tomorrow. She meant to duel with Malfoy, to kill him, but she knew he was stronger than her, mentally and physically.  
  
Hermione stood, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. She slowly made her way across the room, and out into the hall. The Order Headquarters had changed since her fifth year, when it had been in Sirius' house. It was now in a three story building, in London, near Diagon Alley. Currently, it was almost empty, as everybody was getting ready for tomorrow, or was at the Leaky Cauldron with Harry.   
  
Hermione apartment was situated ten minutes from here, and she set off down the hall, intending to get home as soon as she could. Her arms wrapped tightly around her, her head bent down and her mind wandering, it was no wonder that she bumped into someone on her way out.  
  
She staggered back, but two strong arms grabbed her hands to stop her falling. She was jerked forward and those hands moved from her hands to her back. She was placed upright on the floor and she smiled sheepishly at her rescuer.  
  
Sirius.  
  
"Thank you." She whispered, her heart pounding, not just because of the fall. Sirius smiled, his face a mere inch from hers. His cool breath felt like feathers on her neck and she stared into dark eyes that usually held no emotion other than slight caring for her. Adoration, as it was now, was a big change.  
  
"Going home?" He breathed, and Hermione nodded a ditzy yes.  
  
"You?"  
  
"I was going to."  
  
"What stopped you?" Hermione asked faintly, and one of Sirius' hands travelled up from her back to her hair, where it brushed several curls away. He didn't remove it as he spoke, and the contact he had with her sent shivers up her spine.  
  
"You." He said softly, his thumb brushing against her forehead. Hermione swallowed nervously.  
  
"You don't like me though...like that." Hermione protested weakly, half heartedly. Sirius smiled and kissed her softly. It was quick, soft and gentle, but it conveyed more emotion than a passionate kiss would have. Hermione felt her legs turn to jelly, and she found she needed Sirius' hands to stand. When they parted, Sirius grinned, his eyes lighting up in a way that hadn't for a long time.  
  
"Shall I walk you home?" Sirius asked, knowing that Hermione needed support tonight, what with what was going to happen tomorrow. That was the reason why he had come back.  
  
"Please." Hermione replied. She smiled softly, kissing him again, before the pair set off down the hall, Hermione resting on his shoulder as they walked the short distance. Her eyes were closing, she was so tired. Tomorrow was a big day...it was probably going to painful, and bloody, as wars normally were.  
  
But tonight was perfect.

In case your wondering, they are not going to do the naughty. He's just gonna walk her home. That's it. No naughty business.

Please review


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